Hils seeks new vote on Collaborative amid friction with Sentinels

Officer Eddie Hawkins is president of the Sentinel Police Association, a group made up almost exclusively of African-American officers in the Cincinnati Police Department.(Photo: Enquirer file)Buy Photo

Friction among black and white Cincinnati police officers went public Wednesday as reverberations from University of Cincinnati officer Ray Tensing's two mistrials continue to be felt.

Cincinnati Police Officer Eddie Hawkins, president of the virtually all African-American Sentinel Police Association, released a statement Wednesday morning criticizing a decision made by the much larger Fraternal Order of Police and comments by its president, Dan Hils.

Hils posted a statement Saturday morning, just hours before Black Lives Matter and affiliated organizations marched Downtown to The Banks to protest the killing of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose in July 2015.

Two murder trials of Tensing, who fatally shot DuBose during a traffic stop, ended with juries unable to reach unanimous decisions on murder and involuntary manslaughter charges.

"I didn't even address the black community," Hils said Wednesday afternoon of his post. "It was addressed to Black Lives Matter. There was nothing in there about black-on-black crime. The post didn't match well with the criticism."

Hawkins also criticized the FOP's vote Monday night to instruct Hils not to participate in what's known as the Collaborative Agreement "refresh." Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, several council members and Chief Eliot Isaac support the process to update the heralded 2002 agreement that reformed how the Cincinnati Police Department operates.

The FOP meeting, which Hawkins said involved many retired officers that the union still represents, also resulted in a no-confidence vote for Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. Both decisions stem from anger at how Cincinnati Police Sgt. Shannon Heine was treated in the wake of her testimony in the second Tensing trial She said under oath that she believed Tensing's actions were justified.

Isaac declined to comment Wednesday on the Hils-Hawkins flap involving the FOP and Sentinels, which has 220 African-American police members and five white members.

Hils posted Wednesday on the Support the Blue in Cincy Facebook page that he and FOP Vice President Don Meece are seeking a second vote on the Collaborative. They have to petition the FOP's executive board to hold a "special ballot vote of the membership. The entire membership will be given the opportunity to direct the union to participate, or not, in the Collaborative 'Refresh.'”

Hawkins said the Collaborative is popular among African-Americans for its focus on community-oriented policing.

"The Collaborative — me being from Avondale — is one of the things that makes people in my community feel included," he said. "Not working on the Collaborative puts officers in danger. It sends a message to the community that the police don't want to make things better.

"We need the public to like us. It allows us to do our jobs better and more safely."

As for Black Lives Matter in Cincinnati, its multiracial membership base has demonstrated repeatedly since the DuBose killing and called for Tensing's conviction and jailing.

Hils is a critic of the Black Lives Matter movement. He has said the movement is making police work more dangerous by creating a hostile attitude against officers.

"Dear Black Lives Matter Protestors, I wish to help your objective at the rally today protesting black lives lost. I have the list of the homicide victims in the city of Cincinnati in 2017. As of July 17th, there have been 39 homicides. Of those homicides, 32 of the 39 homicide victims were black."

Brian Taylor, a leader locally of Black Lives Matter, took great offense to Hils' statement, calling it "infantile."

Said Taylor, "Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati receives direct death threats and violence threats regularly, both on our Facebook page and on any news article comments section. Has Hils lifted a finger to investigate any of that? No. Instead, he continues to push the fantasy that Black Lives Matter: Cincinnati is a violent group."

In February 2016, shortly after Hawkins and Hils were sworn in as presidents of their respective organizations, they told The Enquirer that they wanted to work together and build on shared interests.